FEEDING AND SWIMMING WITH DOLPHINS IS ILLEGAL AND HARMFUL,
FEDERAL AGENCY WARNS

Florida boaters who encourage the impressive antics of wild
dolphins by feeding or swimming with the animals harm the
dolphins and themselves -- and may be fined for breaking the law,
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced
today.

According to reports received by NOAA's National Marine
Fisheries Service, recreational boaters and swimmers have been
injured when illegally feeding or swimming with wild dolphins off
Florida. People have been sent to the hospital for stitches or
medical attention due to severe bites and body strikes during
interactions.

"Dolphins have a reputation for being friendly to humans,
but the fact remains they are powerful, wild animals that can be
very aggressive," said Nancy Foster, deputy director of
NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service. "Feeding and swimming
with dolphins may appear to be fun for humans, but can be very
harmful to both the dolphins and the people."

Although commercial dolphin-feeding cruises were effectively
stopped in October 1993 following a federal court ruling, NMFS
officials are concerned about recreational boaters and others who
continue to feed and swim with dolphins. NMFS officials are
particularly concerned about a recent increase in feeding
activities in Ft. Walton Beach, Denton, Panama City, Sarasota and
Key West. The fisheries service and local authorities have
stepped up enforcement in those areas and will soon post federal
"no-feeding" signs and issue fines to people caught feeding or
swimming with the animals.

Foster said that feeding these marine mammals can make them
less able -- or willing -- to search for food on their own. In
addition, she said, food, if it's non-natural or contaminated,
can pose a serious health risk and even death to the dolphins.

NMFS officials have reports of people seen feeding dolphins
beer, hot dogs and candy bars -- items Foster called "totally
inappropriate and harmful."

Even more threatening, said Foster, is the danger that
feeding or swimming with the dolphins will cause them to become
habituated to humans and make them lose their natural wariness as
wild animals.

"Dolphins that become desensitized toward humans are highly
at risk of getting entangled in commercial fishing nets, hit by
boat propellers, exposed to polluted water, or being
intentionally harassed by people," Foster said.

Recently, a dolphin that may have been begging for food from
humans jumped into a boat and was killed by the impact. Feeding
wild dolphins has become an increasing and on-going problem since
the late 1980's in many southeast coastal areas, including
Florida, Texas and the Carolinas.

Dolphins fed by people are also in danger of being perceived
as "nuisance" animals. Increasingly, recreational and commercial
fishermen in Florida have complained that dolphins have learned
to take fish off their lines. The fishermen are unable to catch
the fish they want and the dolphins run the risk of ingesting
baited hooks. Dolphins that have stranded dead have been found
with hooks and fishing line in their stomachs.

Scientists and conservationists are concerned that in the
future, there will be public outcry to remove -- or even kill --
dolphins considered to be a nuisance. In the 1970's there was
a similar problem in Yellowstone National Park with the public
feeding wild bears.

A report by the Australian government and American scientists was
published in 1994 on the famous Monkey Mia resort in Western Australia
where the public is legally allowed to give handouts to certain dolphins.
Researchers found the offspring of dolphins that take handouts are less
likely to survive than the offspring of dolphins that do not interact with
people. These studies show that more than 70 percent of the infant
dolphins born to mothers that take fish from people have died.

NMFS law enforcement officers have been working with the Florida
Marine Patrol and the U.S. Coast Guard to educate recreational boaters and
others who may be unaware of the fact that feeding and swimming-with wild
dolphins is both harmful and illegal.

"Most people know that feeding or swimming with wild dolphins is
illegal but they don't seem to understand or want to believe that it's
harmful to the animals and can also be harmful to humans. People need to
respect these animals and let them be wild," said Special Agent Bob
Spraitz of the NMFS Enforcement office in St. Petersburg, Fla. "We have
numerous reports on file of dolphins acting aggressively towards people."

In December 1994, a dolphin off the coast of Brazil
seriously injured a man who witnesses say was harassing the
dolphin. The man subsequently died from those injuries.

On Oct. 29, 1993, NOAA won a court case that reinstated a
federal regulation prohibiting dolphin-feeding activities in U.S.
waters. Violation of this regulation carries stiff civil and
criminal penalties with fines ranging between $10,000-$20,000.
In 1994, NMFS submitted to Congress a comprehensive report
documenting the history and problems of feeding wild dolphins.

Dolphins and other marine mammals such as whales, seals and
sea lions have been protected since 1972 by the Marine Mammal
Protection Act. Feeding and swimming with any wild marine
mammal is considered to be a "take" and "harassment" under the
MMPA and is prohibited by law.